Bakugan: Battle Brawlers First Look

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Collect your orbs and cards -- it's time to fight.

By Jeff Haynes

Last year, Cartoon Network brought Bakugan: Battle Brawlers to North America. A mix of Pokemon and Magic the Gathering, Bakugan follows a kid named Dan and his friends as they try to restore balance to the universe and prevent its destruction by rival battlers wielding evil monsters. Of course, everything from DVDs and toys to a card based strategy game were made, and the popularity of the series led to the development of a video game. Developed by Now Pro and published by Activision, Bakugan: Battle Brawlers will be released on October 20 to give fans a taste of what it's like to control your own creatures. I recently had a chance to check out the 360 version of the game to see what show fans can expect when they enter the arena.

The rules behind Bakugan can be a bit complex, particularly since the real card game has more than 200 cards and 36 created Bakugan "marbles." Players throw these cards face down on a surface, and take turns throwing their marbles across the surface of the cards. Magnets inside the marbles cause the creature inside to open and lock once it rolls along the right section of the card, which has enough metallic foil inside to possibly attract the magnets. If you manage to get two of your marbles on a card, you win that card; if, on the other hand, you land on a card that your opponent has a marble on, then you go into battle, turning over the card and seeing whether there are any modifiers that boost the strength of your creature's attributes. Each Bakugan can have one of six different base attributes: earth, wind, fire, water, light and dark, which determines their class. With a rock paper scissors styled battle system, players can discover who wins and completely dominates the battle arena.

If your aim is off, you can redirect your Bakugan.

I mention these rules because the primary concept has remained the same within the video game version, although players have much more control over their marbles. In fact, at the start of each turn, players pick which marble they want to use and proceed to set their shot type, such as a normal or power shot. Power shots are a more direct toss, but it reduces the amount of control that you have over the marble once it's thrown, while normal throws have less strength but are more controllable. After you choose, you select where you want to throw the ball and the strength of your throw with a moving power meter (somewhat akin to those found in golf games). Once the ball is in the air, you can direct it through the arena based on the level of power you collected in your throw; while you can send it straight to a card, you can aim for power coins and additional extras scattered around the level and hidden in various locations to boost the strength of your marble. However, there's a catch: if your marble doesn't eventually land on a card, everything that you collected in your throw is lost, and you'll have to wait till your next throw to start over. Players can also "influence" an opponent's throw by shooting at their marble, trying to misdirect it away from its intended target. On harder difficulty levels, it's possible to completely knock Bakugan off an arena stage and disqualify their throw.

Once the marbles of two players land on the same card, players immediately engage in battle, with their collected items providing an initial boost for their creature. From there, the card is turned over, and additional attribute properties are factored in as well. If your marble is woefully underpowered, you can expend further Bakugan ability cards in your possession to power up your beast. Once you've finished using a sequence of cards, the fight begins, which is played across a series of random mini-games to determine the winner. I noticed quick time events, where you needed to trigger hit the right button in sequence to determine who won, as well as analog timing games where you needed to move the analog sticks as fast as possible in specific directions. I was told that these elements will vary based on the platform that you're playing on as well. The monster that manages to complete these tasks the best defeats their opponents, allowing you to stake your claim to the card. It appears to be a best two out of three position to claim the card, meaning that losing one match isn't the end of the world during a game.

Create your battler and prepare to make your own story.

As far as the story is concerned, Battle Brawlers will allow you to create a brawler of your own design, determining their facial features as well as their clothing before inserting them into a quest to become the best brawler around. The story, which should last around twelve hours for most players, is like the third season of the show. As you move through the adventure, you wind up meeting new and old characters from the series, and as you challenge and defeat them in arena matches, you'll unlock new items to add to your card deck, as well as gain cash that you can use to purchase new Bakugan upgrades and powers. Unfortunately, there won't be any downloadable content, but with a quick battle arena mode, multiplayer support for up to four battlers and sixteen characters to fight against, Bakugan should be fun for fans of the anime.